


Words are All (I have)

by Trewestriandta



Series: Blessing or a Curse [6]
Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 16:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20067262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trewestriandta/pseuds/Trewestriandta
Summary: At an unspecified time after the Winter Palace, Cullen and Hawke are both surprised by their daughter





	Words are All (I have)

**Author's Note:**

> I have no memory of when I wrote this but I apparently never posted it so ah... please enjoy, even if it is very short.
> 
> And I haven't abandoned Lan'un, I just had a creative hibernation on it for a while.

It was inevitable that Ruth would eventually speak; Hawke just hadn’t been ready for it to happen as she changed her daughter’s diaper while Cullen wrote reports. She’d been trying to leverage information out of ancient tomes the apostate Solas lent her, partially for her own sake and partially for the Inquisition’s, when her daughter had provided an oh-so inconvenient distraction.

“Yes, you like to keep all the attention on you, don’t you?” Rena mumbled in a friendly tone to her babbling daughter, wiping up the horrid mess that was baby poop after they start eating actual foods.

“I wonder where that trait was inherited from; Champion?” Cullen’s amused tone brought her attention to him even as her hands continued to clean and re-diaper Ruth.

He looked good, sleeves rolled up his forearms as he wrote endless pages of information and candle light playing with the gold in his hair and eyes. He was still overworked, under rested, and doing his damnedest to keep his lyrium struggle under wraps; but he looked good. The Inquisitor had succeeded at the Winter Palace, and Rena knew that there was still more shit coming to pile on but, for right now things were not catastrophic for once.

“Tell your dada we have no idea what he’s talking about Nugget.” Rena cajoled her daughter, letting her sit up on her own now that she was cleaned up again.

And then both adults looked flabbergasted as Ruth let out an emphatic, “Dada!”

“You little traitor!” Rena laughed, thrilled at the development and scooping her daughter up to toss her lightly into the air. “Your first word and it’s not even about me.” She turned to see Cullen looking like someone had actually shown him the face of Andraste.

He was pale, eyes wide and tearing up with emotions too complex to give them names, but utterly unable to even move. Hawke doubted he was even breathing. She actually did love this man, and a part of her was tickled pink that their daughter had done this to him even as she was jealous that Ruth hadn’t said mama first. Through her entire pregnancy Rena had had no intention of telling him about her existence, had had no plans to share Ruth with anyone really, but the world had taken that solitary option away from her and Rena would never be more glad about that than she was now.

“Come on Cheri, reports can wait.” She softly broke him from his emotional paralysis and Cullen blinked finally, tears dripping freely as he awkwardly stood up.

She saved him some effort, bringing Ruth with her to put daughter into father’s arms and enjoyed watching him cry freely with joy. Maker knows she’d seen enough of his tears caused by other, less healthy emotions over the years. Like Hawke had, Cullen lightly tossed their daughter into the air hearing her shriek with happy laughter at the action, and like all born opportunists Ruth continued to happily repeat Dada over and over.

So absorbed into his little girl, Cullen never saw the guard open his door and step in, only to freeze on the spot at the sight of his Commander crying and tossing a baby in the air. Hawke sidled up to the familiar looking guard with a dangerous smile on her face.

“If you tell anyone about seeing this I’ll find a way to make you regret it.” She warned softly, not wanting anyone to ruin one of the few truly happy things Cullen had going for him.

“Understood Champion,” the guard spoke fearfully quiet, “I’ll stand post outside to ensure no one else interrupts either.” He passed her the document package and slipped out in a hurry, thankfully not drawing attention with his exit.

Hawke wasn’t always proud of how afraid her reputation left people, but today was definitely one of those days where she was grateful for it. Let the world fear her, if only it meant that for a little while there was Peace. One day she’d have to deal with the consequences of it, but today was not that day.

Today her daughter was laughing and talking and Cullen was smiling. The Nightmares owed her could wait.


End file.
